The Main stage at Russell Hall was sweltering Wednesday night, a product of the day’s heat and blazing stage lights. Student Kristen Peters, assistant stage manager, pointed out between scenes, “We need to light this differently, he couldn’t be reading by that light if it were 1:00 in the morning. We didn’t think of that.”
At the same time, a member of the crew spoke with the director, William Steele, looking intensely at her clipboard, “We have $300, eight performances, and six dress rehearsals,” she said. She and Steele discussed how many bottles of cheap champagne-a prop-they’ll need to accommodate each show.
Although there was ample joking and laughter, the room was focused; each person taking notes, everyone working to improve the performance before the Oct. 5 opening night of Proof, the latest play to come out of USM’s theatre department. Although they have been rehearsing together for less than five weeks, the cast is surprisingly together, remarkably collected, and disciplined to say the least. Perfecting Proof is their common goal. The cast, crew and directors are taking the process seriously. The 2001 Pulitzer Prize and Tony award-winning play is the story of Catherine, a daughter who serves as caretaker of her mentally unstable father, who is also a genius mathematician. Her ability to overcome his death is highlighted while the plot begs the question; how much of her father’s madness-or genius-will she inherit?
The cast said in a group interview that they are focused and will turn people’s heads. Three out of the four-member cast have been acting for close to a decade and are theater majors, or concentrating on musical theater.
“Right now, we are living Proof,” a cast member quips.
All September, cast and crew are eating, sleeping, and breathing the play. It seems bound to pay off. Every fall, a critic from Kennedy Center American College Theater Festival reviews the USM fall performance and decides whether or not they will make the cut to compete nationally in terms of stage management, performance, direction and sound among others.
Director William Steele, a theatre professor at USM, speaks highly of the production.
“Proof is a great story, a great vehicle for training actors,” he said.
Bobby Trask, theatre playing the romantic interest of main-character Catherine and a student of her father’s, speaks highly of the play as well.
“The play is contemporary, it’s real,” he said. “The fact that you can follow the individual changes in each character goes a long way.”
“The audience can relate to something about each personality on stage,” says Slaney Rose Jordan, who plays the lead, Catherine.
The accomplished cast needs not flattery, their resumes sparkle with such accomplishments as reaching the top five in a national student soap opera competition last May put on by the cable network, SOAPnet. Supporting cast members Stacy Ann Strang and Ian Carlson were a part of the group that made the finals.
The actors were cast in May of this year and spent the following months reading the Proof script, written by David Auburn, and learning their characters thoroughly.
The entire set was designed by USM student Jesse Pilgrim, and the sound score was created by Pete White, a USM theater major.
When the play’s two actresses take the stage they masterfully engage in an intense dialogue that is boiling with emotion. Two actresses, that’s all. Two actors complete the quad cast. See their efforts pay off on stage Oct. 5-14 at 7:30 p.m. and 5:00 p.m. on Oct 7 and 14. USM students can purchase tickets for $5. Seniors and faculty pay $8. The public pays $12.
For more information visit usm.maine.edu/theater